Wrapping up National Preparedness Month, I’d like to give away this super cute wonder oven to help at least one more person get more prepared! For those who’ve been wanting one for a while, here’s your chance!

**This giveaway is now CLOSED**

This is going to be the simplest old-fashioned drawing ever. Leave me a comment — either here or on facebook (or both for two chances to win) — telling me something you’d like to learn how to make with it. I’m not caring about what you write so much as I’m caring about weeding out the comments from people who don’t know what one is. (I want to be sure it goes to someone who really will put it to use!) I’ll print all the comments out and have one of my kids draw the winner!

Comments close tomorrow at NOON (CT) and I’ll contact the winner tomorrow night. If it’s a comment here on the blog I’ll send an email, on Facebook I’ll post it there to get the person to respond (so keep a look out!) . The winner will have 24 hours to claim the prize and send me his/her address; otherwise, I’ll draw another name. Good luck to all!

And on that note…

I happily offer paper patterns to anyone who wants one (US only). I just finished sending the last batch of patterns this past weekend, so for those who request now, you can expect them to be sent off the first part of November. A paper pattern is helpful if you’re looking to sew (or get a group together to sew) your own wonder ovens along with directions on finding the beads and sewing the project. The pattern, based off of this online pattern, is something I offer for free to you (as a service) just to make it easier to get done since the online pattern is difficult to interpret on to paper.

Postage of $2 each can be sent to me by way of Paypal (myfoodstoragecookbook@hotmail.com) or by just mailing something back to me afterward, but it’s not required. I want anyone who wants one to have one, so I offer it –completely free– knowing it’s helpful in sewing it and helpful overall in getting the word out about wonder ovens. In my experience with food storage cooking, I firmly believe this is one of the single most important preps you can have and learn how to use.

Here’s what’s included. Take advantage of this offer –get yourself prepared with a wonder oven of your own– while all the supplies to make one are so easily available. Email me a request (subject line “wonder oven pattern” is helpful) to myfoodstoragecookbook@hotmail.com.

My daughter plays softball which means the weather is sure to be raining, snowing, sunny, windy, or flat out blustery all in one single game. Would love to have a pot of great chili or stew to be waiting to warm them as we go from game to game to game.

Thank you for the opportunity in your drawing. I’m anxious to learn how to make meals. We have solar panels so we do have means to cook, however, the electricity is not endless, especially on cloudy days. This would make it so I can still cook but conserve on the power we can create.

I have been reading about the wonder oven on a couple sites, including this one. Bread would be a priority for me to learn to make in the oven – I am fascinated by this process. Then I think a nice pot roast would be my second thing to make – with potatoes and carrots! I wish I could sew, then I would make one but alas, I have to keep my fingers crossed to win one!
Thanks for the offer!

I’d love to enter you in Cindy, but I want to be sure you understand the idea of it first — I don’t think you could make rolls in it (although that would be really cool if it were possible). Check out this post and if it’s something you think you’d use come back and tell me what you’d like to try making in it 🙂

I have had bread in the wonder oven at our emergency prep meeting and it is great. Would love to have one to make breads in. Vickie Davis has shown us many things that can be made in the wonder oven such as stews, main dishes, etc. at our meetings. Love that you start the food and then put it in the wonder oven to finish….no heat in the house.

This would be great to win! My hubby is nearing retirement and we are learning to live on a fixed income. I would love to see recipes for soups and stews that could just sit and “summer” all day! Thanks!

A good pot of beans. Start them in my sun oven and then transfer them to the Wonder Oven while I can continue to cook something else like cornbread (or visa versa). The days are getting too short to try to cook too long. Also running into the problem of starting something and then the clouds come in. A Wonder Oven would be awesome to finish the job. Thanks for the chance.

Ok trying this again I would like to make yogurt in the wonder oven, as I have tried in the slow cooker without success, and to use it to make many of the stews and soups I would normally make in a slow cooker . I live in an all electric house with the exception of the stove but it has electronic ignition so cant light the oven when electricity is off which is unfortunately too regular for comfort.

I would love to make Bread of course but also a tummy yummy dish like Arroz y pollo or another one pot meal. I think its important to have meals that are delicious so our kids will actually eat the food. I’m so thankful for your blog and use your recipe index all the time!

OMG!!! My sister just showed me your blog a couple of days ago and I’ve been reading your posts and been dying for a wonder OVEN!! I am so impressed with all of your recipes and particularly your generosity in making and giving all of those wonder ovens away last year. SO NICE OF YOU! I have several things that I would like to try to make in a wonder oven, particularly yogurt. I am moving to Samoa in a month and will not have an electric oven there. The sad thing about the islands is that electricity is INCREDIBLY expensive. Many people live in open air homes with no electricity because the cost is insane. So of course that makes cooking a bit more challenging. I had been contemplating taking a dutch oven with me to cook over an open fire but when I found out about wonder ovens I quickly abandoned that crazy idea and knew that I needed a wonder oven instead! I was even more impressed that you were able to make yogurt from powdered milk! I would also like to try making yogurt with coconut milk and have a non-dairy yogurt option. I am definitely going to try out your blueberry muffin recipe as well as the bread. Thanks again for your blog and all the awesome information! If you have already chosen someone to give the wonder oven to I would still love to buy one from you if you have any for sale!

Hi,
I recently learned about the “Wonder Oven”. I was very curious and had to make one and try it myself! It worked so well and exceeded my expectations. You almost have to see the results to believe how great it is! It works to cook food by heat retention. You bring the food to a boil for a few minutes on your heat source, then place the pot with lid on in the Wonder Oven where it continues to cook. In a few hours your meal is prepared! After 4 1/2 hours the lid was so hot I had to use a hot pad to check the food. I wrapped the pot in a Mylar emergency blanket to keep the oven clean and retain more heat. I also put something heavy on the top while it was in use.
I made Brown Rice, Split Pea Soup and Steel Cut Oats with Dried Apples all in the first day!! I also tried a 15 bean soup that was fantastic! Yesterday I made a butternut squash soup that was yummy too. They were all amazing and perfectly cooked!!! I know it will save time in the kitchen and be a wonderful preparedness item that will help my fuel go further.
If you are interested or know others who may want one, please pass this along. I will take orders through email…
I offer them for $40 plus shipping. (This is the lowest price I’ve seen.) The shipping seems to be between $8 and $12… I think it will give more people a chance to get one and learn how to use it. It would be great Christmas gifts for friends or family members who need preparedness items.

All the Wonder Ovens are filled with 3mm virgin polystyrene bean bag beads. The tiny beads retain the heat the best.
Please let me know if you have any other questions. (You can email me for pictures. Jenfrandsen@charter.net)

You mentioned you got your beads locally. Where are you located and what was your source. I have a group of ladies that wants to do almost 40 of them so far and was trying to find a local retailer, with no luck. I am in SE Idaho. Shipping prices online really adds up for that many beads. I would even consider driving if it wasn’t too far away. Thank you for any help you can give me. You can email me that info if you can give me any leads.

To find a local supplier of the styrene beads, I called a national supplier of foam products, Insulfoam (1-800-228-4412), and asked where in my area they supplied “unexpanded polystyrene bead”. From there I was given a local supplier, which (in my area) referred to them as “virgin beads”. Hopefully that will help. Please let me know if this doesn’t get you anywhere and I can reach out to my supplier to see if they might be able to give me any leads that might help. That’s so exciting that you’ve gotten a big group ready to make wonder ovens!! 🙂

I get mine at Wal-Mart. Last time they were about $15.00 a bag. Approx. 3/4 of a bag fills one cooker top and bottom. So about 3 bags would fill 4 cookers. It appears the Wal-Mart website will deliver to your home for free. I don’t know how this compares to the Insulfoam Megan suggested. You’ll need approx. 2 2/3 cu ft per cooker. If you go to Wal-Mart go to the furniture section (tv stands, tv trays etc) They have unfilled bean bag chairs with the beans next to the chairs. Here’s the website if you wanted to order online. http://www.walmart.com/ip/Ace-Bayou-Bean-Bag-Refill-Polystyrene-Beads-3.5-cu-ft/5691347

The only thing I’d mention is that these beads from Walmart are larger than the ones you see here in this post. They do the job, however will not hold heat as long due to increased number of air spaces in between the beads (larger beads = more air space). There’s a chart here (headed “Which Filler is Best?”) where you can see these beads matched up against the smaller sized (bebe sized) beads and how their heat retention plays out.

I’m so sorry for my late reply. Somehow I missed seeing this. Yes, you can find the smaller sized beads. Here’s how I did it in my area: I called a national supplier of foam products, Insulfoam (1-800-228-4412), and asked where in my area they supplied “unexpanded polystyrene bead”. From there I was given a local supplier, which (in my area) referred to them as “virgin beads”. Hopefully that will help. Please let me know if this doesn’t get you anywhere and I can reach out to my supplier to see if they might be able to give me any leads that might help.

Hi, I replied earlier. We are about to get our boxes made. There are 31 of us making 69. I found a relatively local supplier, about 2 hours away (4 hours round trip) but still way cheaper than ordering online. I’m just concerned about not having enough beads and running out. I was estimating 2 c.f. per box equaling about 14 ice cream pails (4 quart pails) per box. Does that sound correct to you? I would really appreciate any feedback. Thank you.